State Government support for tenants and landlords

Land tax grants are available for landlords who provide rent relief to small business tenants.

The State Government has allocated $100 million to provide one-off land tax grants to assist landlords who provide rent relief to their small business tenants impacted by COVID-19.

Assistance will be provided on a first come, first served basis to encourage landlords who move quickly to help their small business tenants withstand the challenges of COVID-19.

To be eligible, landlords must provide small business tenants with minimum rent relief equivalent to a waiver of three months, and a freeze on outgoings, and the small business tenant must have suffered at least a 30 per cent reduction in turnover due to COVID-19. Landlords must not recover this relief from tenants at the end of the period.

Landlords who provided rent relief from 1 March 2020 onwards will be eligible for the grant, to ensure that those who acted swiftly to provide rent relief are not disadvantaged.

Grants equivalent to 25 per cent of their 2019-20 land tax bill for the leased property will be paid to landlords, based on the portion of the landlord’s total tax liability for which rent relief is provided.

The State Government has allocated $30 million to provide one-off rent relief payments equivalent to four weeks’ rent (capped at $2,000) to eligible Western Australians experiencing financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This assistance will help preserve tenancies by helping eligible tenants continue to pay rent, and reduce the risk of exposing landlords to financial hardship in meeting their mortgage obligations.

Grants will be paid to the tenant’s landlord, to contribute to the tenant’s rental payments. The grants will be provided in addition to rental reductions negotiated between tenants and landlords. To qualify for the grants, landlords must agree not to recover this rent relief from tenants at the end of the period.

The scheme will be available to tenants or sub-tenants who have lost their job, applied to Centrelink for income support, have less than $10,000 in savings, and are still paying at least 25 per cent of their income in rent.
Eligible tenants will need to register their revised rental agreement with Consumer Protection or engage Consumer Protection’s conciliation service. In addition, a tenant must have, or will shortly have, a bond registered with the Western Australian Bonds Administrator.

More information

Applications for both grant schemes will open on 1 May 2020.

The commercial land tax relief grants will be administered through the Small Business Development Corporation (SBDC). For more information on eligibility criteria and how to apply, visit www.smallbusiness.wa.gov.au.

The residential rent relief grants will be administered through the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety. For more information on eligibility criteria and how to apply, visit www.dmirs.wa.gov.au/covidrenting.

The above measures complement new legislative changes for commercial tenancies that recognise the financial impact of the current COVID-19 pandemic restrictions on commercial landlords and tenants.

The new laws formalise a six-month moratorium on evictions for certain commercial tenancies in Western Australia and enable the State Government to establish a mandatory code of conduct to assist with negotiations between landlords and tenants. Other elements of the legislation include:

• a freeze on rent increases;
• restriction on penalties for tenants who do not trade or who reduce their trading hours;
• no interest to be charged on rent arrears;
• the introduction of an enhanced dispute resolution process; and
• a prohibition on landlords progressing proceedings that occurred after the restrictions were imposed but before these laws come into operation.

A six-month moratorium on residential tenancy evictions is also in place in Western Australia to prevent tenants from having to move out or being made homeless during the COVID-19 pandemic. Other elements of the new legislation include:

• a ban on rent increases and interest during the emergency period;
• fixed-term tenancies will automatically convert to periodical tenancies if they expire during the period unless another fixed-term agreement is entered into;
• landlords do not have to carry out non-urgent repairs if they themselves are experiencing financial hardship or are not able to access the premises due to restrictions on movement;
• tenants experiencing COVID-19 related financial hardship who end a fixed-term tenancy prior to its end date will not incur break lease fees, but will still be liable for damage and rent arrears; and
• landlords or tenants who are experiencing undue hardship can apply to the Magistrates Court to have the tenancy agreement terminated. For example, a landlord who loses their job and wants to make their rental property a primary residence will still be able to apply to the Court.

The laws will apply to all residential tenancies, including those in public and government housing, park homes, as well as boarders and lodgers.

Tenants can still have their leases terminated and be evicted if they are causing damage to the property, posing a threat to the landlord or neighbours, not paying rent, refusing to make a rental payment agreement, or if they abandon the property.

Provisions supporting victims of family and domestic violence will also continue to apply.

Affected landlords and tenants are urged to negotiate a revised agreement to preserve the tenancy during the six-month period. If an agreement cannot be reached, the landlord and tenant will be required to participate in a mandatory conciliation process facilitated by the Commissioner for Consumer Protection. The six-month moratorium period is defined as starting from 30 March 2020 and can be reduced or extended by regulations to deal with changing circumstances.